Moonage Devilment

Not content with returning to rock the j-rock world with SADS, Kiyoharu has also been one busy boy in the fashion world of late. The last time he appeared on this site was when he collaborated with Justin Davis, but since then he has managed a huge amount of success with his brand Moonage Devilment, which has really managed to exceed the impact that his other major venture – Charm Cult achieved. For me, Kiyoharu’s personal style, as reflected through Moonage Devilment has really captured the mood of the moment in Japanese street fashion founded as it is on the following sentiment:

“To be monotone and decadent. An antithesis towards the flood to rock and roll taste”

To find out what all this means, continue reading where we will also have a close look at some of my favorite pieces from the current collection.

As I said in my introduction, this is a brand that has really managed to reflect the spirit of the time as we head into 2011. 109-2 is growing up rapidly (although Buzz Spunky remains…), the whole LA “Swarovski crystal everything that moves” attitude is getting old and even the massive hair of Gyaru-O is coming rapidly down to earth. In short, as I have said before, the Shibuya street style is becoming ever more fashion-forward and indeed words such as Gyaru-o and Onii-kei are even becoming less and less used. A change of identity then, and from what I have seen, for the better.

Maybe it is because of international attention, maybe because a rhinestone t-shirt does not quite reflect these times of austerity, or maybe it is because the audience of this look from the 2000s are now 10 years older and not ready to abandon their sense of style.

Anyway, you can trust me to keep an eye on how the fashion world shifts over the coming months, and I for one am excited.

Back to Moonage Devilment – this is a brand that redefines credible rock style, it is still edgy, but paired right back and very very monotone. For me it reflects Kiyoharu’s personal strive for credibility in his music and his fashion that has been echoed by many of the j-rockers including the now criminally cool Dir en Grey.

This is the basic look – industrial and urban.

Beautifully dyed and destroyed.

Uniting strong masculine structures with cutting edge styling.

Taking notes from Rick Owens here, but still a student of Japanese rock style.

Very fashion-forward and exceptionally cool.

Love the double zipped front of this piece.

Credible Rock.

I am personally enjoying the poncho look right now, definitely more useful than a scarf over leathers.

Moonage Devilment really take delight in keeping the planes of leather as uncluttered as possible and just let you enjoy the base quality.

Classic rock-styling, with no weakness and no excess.

Hopefully you can see what I have been driving at, that this is a brand that may not be the antithesis of rock style as it claims, but more accurately offers an alternative hypothesis of what rock-styling can be. No extra stones, no unnecessary straps and studs, just quality, cut and out-and-out style. It is good to know there are places to go when I get ever older and I reckon you can get away with this kind of styling way into middle-age.

No flagship for this brand as of yet, but you can find them in the usual luxury street style boutiques – for which I recommend as always Kawano in Shinjuku. As you can guess this is the higher end of the market, but don’t worry because more affordable 109-2 is not that far behind.

I love the dishevelled piece, the military jacket with buttons, the studded jacket…Even tho some of my friends are gyaru, I echo the sentiment that everything is deco’d to death with swarovski crystals.

[…] last time I posted about a Kiyoharu project it was in the form of his very cool clothing brand Moonage Devilment, but now comes word that the recently reformed Kiyoharu band Kuroyume will be supported by none […]